Be Quiet! might not be a widely known brand name in North America, but the German company is highly popular as a manufacturer of low-noise PC components in Europe. The company has been shyly making its way into the North American market and several of their products can now be found via North American e-tailers and retailers.

Introduction

As a company focused on providing low-noise solutions, Be Quiet! primarily became popular from producing and marketing fans, coolers and power supply units. Not so long ago however the company also diversified into one more segment of the market, that of PC cases. They currently have two different cases, the Silent Base 600 and the Silent Base 800, with each of them available in six variants.

It is their more popular and cost effective Silent Base 600 that we are going to have a closer look at this review. The Silent Base 600 is an ATX case of typical proportions, designed to provide good overall performance and flexibility combined with sound-dampening features. It is available in six different versions but they are all practically identical, with the end user having to choose between three faceplate trim colors (black, orange or silver) and a windowed or solid left side panel. The sample that we received for the means of this review is the orange color variant with the windowed side panel.

· Simple mounting and tool-free fitting of drives· Air intake filters that are easily accessed for cleaning
· Space for water cooling radiators
· Two pre-installed Pure Wings 2 fans feature nine airflow-optimized fan blades and are decoupled from the case to circulate air with a minimum of vibration
· Side panel with adjustable vent that can be closed for silent operation, partially open for increased air intake or open with an additional fan for higher cooling performance
· Cable management is supported with space for organizing cables, silicone rubber grommets, and pass-throughs

Packaging & Bundle

Be Quiet! Supplies the Silent Base 600 in a simple brown cardboard box. The artwork is monochromic and based on a simple schematic of the case itself. The box however is sturdy and the case inside it is well protected between thick Styrofoam slabs, providing excellent shipping protection.

The company kept the bundled items down to a minimum. Along with the case we received only the necessary mounting hardware and screws, the required silicone rails for the installation of 3.5" devices, just four cable ties and a very undetailed manual that could have been more detailed.

The thermal testing is done with fanless space heaters standing in for the CPU, GPU, etc. It's not clear what what the fans used in the advanced noise test are, I wouldn't be surprised if they're both standalone fans not fans attached to heatsinks/cards.Reply

Since the build photos are more about helping readers put the case internal design into perspective, the use of older hardware probably isn't a big problem. Why use the latest GPU, motherboard, etc which puts it at risk of being damaged from frequent rebuilds when you can use older hardware that might already be dead or is at least expendable when putting together something that's only for photography?Reply

plus they are red, and match the power cables. I do not like these loose cables, but for photography and a "worst cabling case" comparison, they are great. I imagine sleeved independent cables would be much nicer to organize, but there is no point in complaining about it. the photo works, and that's it.Reply